Hi Expat,

I'm currently teaching Oral English courses at Shunde Polytechnic. I've been here since January 2009, and so far I am satisfied with the campus and overall environment of Shunde.

It's true that in comparison to major cities in China (Shanghai, Beijing, HK, etc.) Shunde (Daliang, Ronggui, etc.) has had little exposure to foreigners. I am unaware of any definite/negative reason as to why few foreigners venture here, but I have met a handful of foreigners over the year, most of them teachers either at Shunde Polytechnic or other institutions in Shunde or Guangzhou.

Shunde is as you said 'land scrapped' and is sure to become yet another metropolis in time. However, there are a few towns that have maintained a relatively traditional image, for example, Jun An (ancestral home of Bruce Lee).

Living expenses in Shunde are minimal in comparison to Shenzhen or Guangzhou, and traveling to either city from Shunde is quite convenient (by bus: 45 minutes to Guangzhou, 2.5 hours to Shenzhen). Shunde Harbor is also a two minute drive from campus and ferries make daily trips to Hong Kong (Tsim Sha Tsui, 2 hours by ferry). A slight inconvenience is that the school is situated outside of both Daliang and Ronggui, but there's a bus that stops on campus and will take you to either area within 25 minutes.

Hope this helps, happy new year 新年快乐!

Peace,

JP